Posted on 08/07/2003 4:30:54 PM PDT by blam
Caligula's Roman palace discovered
By Bruce Johnston in Rome (Filed: 08/08/2003)
The ancient palace in Rome that provided the backdrop for many of Emperor Caligula's wildest depravities has been found by British and American archaeologists.
After two months of digs at the edge of the Forum close to the Palatine Hill, the group - involving Oxford and Stanford Universities, the British School at Rome, and the American Institute for Roman Culture - were confident that they had found the site.
While it had been known from ancient sources that the palace was in the area, it had never been located with archaeological proof.
Now for the first time it has been located at the foot of the Palatine Hill, at a point where it met and joined the Temple of Castor and Pollux.
The discovery confirmed the belief that Caligula - who had himself deified - had the audacity to incorporate the sacred temple into his home.
Dr Andrew Wilson of Oxford University, in charge of the excavation, said that his team had discovered evidence of the walls of the palace actually going into the temple - something that in the ancient world was "just not done".
"It would be like extending your back garden into St Paul's Cathedral," he said.
Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, head of the British School, said yesterday: "The ancient sources claim that Caligula transformed the Temple of Castor and Pollux into the vestibule of his palace. The new excavations greatly strengthen the case for supposing that Caligula's building actually came up to the temple.
"It might seem crazy to knock a doorway in the back of a temple to transform into your front door, but crazy is exactly what the sources say Caligula was."
Caligula, born in AD 12, was stabbed to death in AD 41 by the Praetorian Guard as Rome grew weary of his excesses. He believed himself to be the supreme God Zeus and made his horse a senator.
This is a selling point?
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Jamais reculez á tyrannie un pouce!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! Never give an inch to tyranny!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
The Liberation of Grenada and the wacked out venture in the Balkans have absolutely nothing in common IMO.
Roman dig backs ancient writers' portrait of megalomaniac Caligula
Guardian | Aug., 03 | John Hooper
Posted on 08/29/2003 3:54:32 PM PDT by churchillbuff
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/972985/posts
Stanford, Oxford archaeologists find evidence that depraved tyrant annexed sacred temple
Stanford Report, September 10, 2003 | September 10, 2003 | BY JOHN SANFORD
Posted on 09/12/2003 1:57:26 PM PDT by vannrox
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/981470/posts
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
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